Page 54 - Part A

Counselling Skills

Unconditional positive regard

Having unconditional positive regard means valuing and respecting the client as a
unique human being. It involves:
• Accepting and caring about the client in a non-possessive way, irrespective
of how the client behaves

• Not judging the client by a set of rules or standards

• Accepting the client’s strengths and weaknesses, positive and negative
qualities, and thoughts and feelings

• Not pressuring the client to be someone else

• Facilitating and helping the client to change.

Key Fact: British Values

Lack of respect for other people’s cultures and beliefs can lead
to discrimination, exploitation and the denial of people’s rights.

Empathetic understanding

Empathetic understanding means being able to see the world as the client sees it
and being able to communicate that to the client.

Empathy is communicated in three ways:

1. Thinking – an intellectual grasping of how the other person feels

2. Feeling – a mirroring or sharing of the emotion with the other person

3. Behavioural – assuming in your mind the role of the other person or
putting yourself in their place.

Empathy is also communicated non-verbally through facial expression, eye contact,
forward leaning towards the other person and a reduction of physical distance
between the counsellor and the client.

Q. Is there a difference between empathy, sympathy and pity?

A. Yes there is a difference. Sympathy and pity are frequently confused with
empathy, but they are not the same.

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